


Felicitas

by tearlessNevermore



Category: Heretical Edge - Cerulean
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-25
Updated: 2017-10-25
Packaged: 2019-01-23 04:05:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12498372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tearlessNevermore/pseuds/tearlessNevermore
Summary: Between Miranda leaving and her joining Crossroads, Flick is wandering around a carnival when she catches the attention of a fortune-teller.





	Felicitas

**Author's Note:**

> This was written in an attempt to break my writer's block and as part of the Heretical Edge Hallowe'en Spooky Snips event. Enjoy!

“Hello girl, care to have your fortune read?”

I didn’t take much notice of the cracked, high voice calling to me. After all, it was a busy carnival, why would anyone be addressing _me_ in particular?

“Come now, are you so sure of your own luck, _Felicity_?”

That could have just been some random shout. Even if the tone was so similar to how Mo- how my mother had said it, Felicity wasn’t that uncommon a name, was it? But when I turned to look, she was staring straight at me.

The place was bustling. Laramie Falls and a few other towns were feeding into the crowd of revellers gathered in what had once been an empty field, transformed into a festival of light and sound and life for a mere twenty-four hours.

Rows of stalls formed miniature streets leading people to the larger attractions. I’d seen a small Ferris wheel, a merry-go-round and some kind of cage earlier. This one stall wasn’t lit up like the others though.

‘Madam Eva’s Fortune Telling’ was a tent of dark purple fabric devoid of the customers that thronged its neighbours, a cotton candy vendor and a ring-toss game. Maybe they were put off by the proprietress, a hunched lady beckoning at me from between the curtains.

I would hesitate to call her old because at least some of her appearance _had_ to be theatrics, but ‘Madam Eva’ was wrinkled like a raisin, and stooped almost halfway over. Her skin tone was dark, but whether it was naturally like that, tanned or artificial I couldn’t tell in the lighting.

Almost against my own wishes, I crossed the ‘street’ to the fortune-teller. Up close, I could see that she was at the very least devoid of the massive amounts of jewellery that I’d seen on other such vendors before.

“Okay, I’ll bite, how did you know my name?”

“How does anyone?” she shot back, livelier than I’d expected. “You told me. Or would have told me, had I not already known.”

“Of course I did,” I muttered, “at least that’s a more practical application than guessing what number I was going to pull out of a hat.”

“You are confusing me for a performer. And you are not entirely correct. Introductions are an important part of any conversation,” the apparent crone replied. “But please come in. I have some tea on. I haven’t gotten a single visitor so far.”

“I’d rather not spend my allowance on this-”

“No charge! Like I will have said, I find an interesting conversation worth the effort needed to have one. And I think you’ll be a very interesting conversationalist.”

“But if you could see the future, you could just have the conversation and not have to actually talk with me,” I pointed out, following the elderly lady through the curtains. The interior of the tent was brighter than it’d seemed from the outside. It _did_ bear a striking resemblance to a very small, rather cluttered sitting room. A small round table with two chairs around it, with stacks of boxes against the cloth walls. A kettle was indeed boiling away on the far side of the table.

“How astute! But that would be unfair and besides, gaining something of value for nothing isn’t so easy. Getting a name is easy, usually. A full conversation? That carries a cost. Much easier to just have it when the both of us are present.”

“Well, as you have already noted, my name is Felicity, but I prefer Flick. Flick Chambers.”

“How polite! Very well, I have a number of names, but for preference, I prefer just Eva. A pleasure to speak with you, Flick.”

Sipping my tea, I glanced towards the small deck of cards resting atop the table. They were called Tarot cards, I thought.

“Would you care for a reading before you must leave?” Eva said, smiling like she’d just seen something amusing.

“How does that work?” I asked. I wasn’t really that interested in getting my fortune read, but she wasn’t charging anything and had been pleasant enough if a bit strange. I still wasn’t sure how she’d guessed my name, but it was an impressive enough trick in its own right.

“Well, I like what’s usually referred to as a ‘success’ spread,” Eva said, setting aside her own cup to pick up and begin shuffling the cards. Watching the cards dance between her fingers, I was all but convinced that Eva’s apparent age was an act. Then again, I didn’t know much about cards in general, so maybe shuffling them like that didn’t require the dexterity I thought it would.

“The first card, placed in the centre, signifies a major concern or obstacle that you face or will face,” Eva explained, finally setting the cards down before drawing one from the top of the deck.

As she set it down and turned it over, I found myself leaning forwards, just ever so slightly. Revealed was a woman in a stately dress and crown, her head towards me.

“The Empress reversed,” Eva said, her voice quieter now, but smoother and more focused, “In this context, it represents secrecy and mysteries, ones being kept from you and ones that you yourself won’t acknowledge.”

“Bullshit, why the hell would I keep a secret from myself?” I said, drawing back from the table, angry despite myself. A vague sense that maybe I should stay and get a full explanation was all that kept me there.

“You are yet young, Flick,” Eva said, not batting an eye at my outrage, “you have searched so hard for the truth, but you know that it can hurt as badly as it can heal. It is not ignorance or cowardice, but good sense to avoid knowledge that you know to be dangerous, even if you cannot express _why_ it is so. Besides, that is only one interpretation of this card.”

“What secrets are being kept from me then?” I asked, somewhat mollified.

“That isn’t how this works,” Eva said, “The cards can indicate paths and themes, but precise details are beyond them in most circumstances. This is only the first card though.”

So saying, Eva drew the next card and lay it down to the left of the first. An old man in a hooded cloak, lantern clenched in one raised hand, a staff in the other. Again, his head was towards me.

“The Hermit, also reversed. This card symbolises the challenges and complications that oppose you. Specifically, the Hermit represents isolation and loneliness. In your attempts to overcome your obstacle, you will have to keep others close to you. Isolation can come in many forms, not solely through abandonment or absence. Lack of trust, stigmatisation and the like can leave you alone, even in a crowd.”

I didn’t have any response to that one. I already knew how much it hurt to have nobody to turn to. There were still times, almost a year later, that I’d turn to say something to Miranda, forgetting that she was gone with barely a word of explanation.

“The third card represents unknown influences on your situation. Factors that you must be aware of. In your case,” she paused to place the next card to the right of the first, revealing a wheel carved with runes and symbols, “the Wheel of Fortune in the upright position. This signifies that you have, and may further, benefited from stroked of fortune.”

“Would that include the secrets that you said were being kept from me?” I asked, drawing a connection with the first card, “Since that was about people keeping secrets, are you saying that this card means that that was for my benefit?”

“Maybe, it can certainly be read that way,” Eva muttered, frowning in contemplation, “I would be inclined to say... yes, in part at least. There is overlap between the cards. There are secrets that you would benefit from knowing and there have been other bouts of good luck beyond withheld knowledge. Since this is the Wheel, rather than something referring to any particular individual, I would hazard a guess that there are multiple parties or forces at play and it is through their interaction that you have benefited.”

Just for a moment, I wondered who these other parties were and why they were meddling with my life. Then I caught myself. This was very interesting and all, but it wasn’t _real_. Not like an actual investigation backed by evidence and proof.

Eva placed the fourth card above the second so that they all formed a sideways ‘L’ facing towards her. Then she turned it over.

“A curious card,” she commented, smiling very briefly, “commonly called Death, it is more accurately known as ‘The Wild Unknown’.”

I took her word for it, trying to ignore the grinning skeleton on horseback looking down at me.

“The fourth card, incidentally, indicates new ideas or people that can allow you to grow. In the upright position, the Wild Unknown foretells change, endings, beginnings and transformations. Transitions, in other words. There may come a time when you will find yourself stifled by your environment, stuck in rut. Given any chance, you _will_ flourish and develop. Quite remarkable.”

“I would have thought that ‘change’ would work for anyone who needs to ‘grow’?” I asked, curious as to what she would answer.

“True, but it is rarely the change itself as what the change brings about that aids you,” Eva explained good-naturedly, “For most people, the drawn card would indicate some aspect of themselves they should keep in mind should change happen upon them.

“With you, there is no great imbalance or flaw. You will adapt to whatever circumstances come your way and become stronger because of them. The flipside, as they say, is that you _will_ face change. Things will not last forever, something you will become intimately familiar with.

“Speaking of endings, the final card refers specifically to pitfalls and opportunities you must be aware of to attain success.”

The fifth card was placed below the second, completing the sideways ‘T’ shape. A nude figure -I restrained a blush, it was only a picture on a card, for goodness’s sake- bent down over a body of water below a large glowing star-shape. The star was towards me.

“Let me guess, it’s called ’the Star’, or something like that and it’s inverted?” I asked glancing at Eva. The fortune-teller merely rolled her eyes, patently amused by me.

“Correct. What is not immediately obvious is the meaning. The inverted Star represents despair, a loss of faith. Your beliefs will be challenged your determination tested. Hold onto them and stand strong. Believe in yourself, as cliché as that may sound. Should you falter, should you _fall_ , then failure awaits.”

The amusement had drained from her as she spoke, until by the end she was gazing at me as if already reading my obituary. After a moment she lightened up again and gave a tired smile.

“My apologies for being melodramatic, but sometimes... it can be hard to bear. To see one as bright and glorious as you, knowing that you will face such burdens... well, I think I’m done for today.”

“The carnival still has a few hours left, you might still get another visitor,” I pointed out, still considering the spread of cards. Baseless superstition or not, it had been interesting and some of the points had struck home. Which just meant that Eva was good at reading her customers.

“No, I don’t think I have it in me to do more than two of these readings today,” Eva sighed, kneading her left eye with the corresponding hand. For just a moment, she seemed as old as she appeared to be... which sounds really cynical of me when I think of it like that.

The moment passed and Eva smiled at me once more.

“I doubt you’ll pay my ramblings much heed, but please try and remember this: I can tell fortunes all I want, peering into the future and waxing lyrical about prophecy. But more important than any of that is _choice_.

“We are shaped by our environment, by those around us, by countless factors beyond our control. But we are all defined by our choices, by our own determination and will. We write our own fate, for good or ill. I think you’ll go far. Not a prophecy, just a judgement of character. And it may be the truest thing I’ve said all day.”

I drained the last of my (cold) tea and made my exit a few minutes later. Gimmick aside, Eva had been friendly enough. Outside, it was darker than I’d expected. It was only when I was halfway down the street of tents when I remembered.

Eva had said that she’d had no other visitors before me and that she could only tell two fortunes a day. But she said she was ‘done’ after reading me. It may just be a slip-up in her act, but that didn’t seem right. I turned back to ask her about it, not really expecting an answer, maybe just a joke.

The fortune-teller’s tent was gone, replaced by a stall selling balloon animals. To the left was the stall selling tooth-rotting pink fluff on a stick, to the right a line of people trying in vain to get rings over a selection of prizes.

I must have gotten the location mixed up, there was no way they could have changed stalls that quickly. Shrugging, I set it to the side and continued exploring the carnival, keeping an eye out for Madame Eva’s tent. I never did find it, nor did the staff recognise the name.

The carnival left the next day and Madame Eva and her strange prophecies slipped my mind.


End file.
